HIGHLIGHTS

Water bodies around Chennai being used as dumping grounds by government.

Government promised to remove encroachments, but hasn't done much.

2015 Chennai floods

HIGHLIGHTS

Improper management of Chennai's water storage system led to floods.

Water bodies around Chennai being used as dumping grounds by government.

Government promised to remove encroachments, but hasn't done much.

The havoc caused in Chennai by the 2015 November-December monsoon rains have brought into sharp focus the point that the city is woefully unprepared to handle a flood-like situation. Debates are still brewing if it was a natural calamity or a manmade one.

The government gave many reasons for the flood damage caused by the rains saying that the amount of rainfall Chennai received was the highest in a hundred years. However, reports suggest that Chennai had received an equal amount of rainfall in 2005 but at tha ttime the city hadn't suffered this much damage.

Environmental activists attribute the main reason for the flooding to the encroachment of water bodies and the mismanagement of the city's water storage system. Chennai is surrounded by many lakes which also act as water reservoirs and provide essential drinking water to the city's people.

Four of these water bodies - Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills, and Chembarambakkam - are the Metro water reservoirs. On the fateful December night, all of south Chennai was flooded because the Chembarambakkam flood gates had been opened by officials fearing a breach of its walls.

Notable places like T Nagar, KK Nagar, Saidapet were submerged under an average of 4 feet of water. In Kotturpuram, the water level rose up to the first floor level of a government head quarters. The line of supply was cut to these parts. People who believed themselves to be safe till then saw the horrors of what a flood could do.

Yet, it was the common people who came to the rescue of others followed by the NDRF and the defence forces. Food was airdropped and many heroic rescues were recorded.

But has the government learnt its lesson yet? Apparently, the same government which was in power back then is in power now. AIADMK's Edapadi Palanisamy holds the post as PWD minister now.

Even Jayalalithaa came back to power stating that crores would be spent in making the city a flood safe zone. A couple of months ago Rs 110 crore was allocated by the Tamil Nadu government to proceed with the desilting of lakes and water bodies. Heavy machines were either bought or hired by the Chennai corporation to clean and remove the debris from the canal systems. Though the government had said in 2015 that encroachments on water bodies would be removed systematically, the ground reports differ completely.

For instance, the encroachment of Pallikaranai marsh lands which was 5,000 acres once has shrunk to just 370 acres now. Because of the settlements there, the entire ecosystem is under threat even though it is the only remaining wetland ecosystem on Chennai. Many water bodies, for instance, are used as dumpyards by the government itself. Even after the floods, it seems the government has not taken all this under consideration.

One more lake that has come under such a threat right now is the Villivakkam lake. The lake initially covered 300 acres of land and had a flourishing ecosytem. As encroachments expanded on the lake and the government turned a blind eye, the lake shrank to 80 acres. Of that land nearly, 52 acres is now covered by mud and dirt. During last year's Chennai floods, the 5,000 families living around this lake were so devastated that there were accounts of people starving for three days straight. This happened because the lake that acted as a natural drain system was completely filled with debris.

The local residents made it clear that it was the government which was using the lake as a landfill to dump the debris removed from Metro Train Project sites from all over Chennai.

Raja, a student residing right next to the lake's wall, says that he saw huge trucks bring in dirt and throw it in the lake all through the night. When the residents quetioned, the authorities initially said they were following orders. Later, when people began protesting, some officials said that the state is planning to construct an interstate bus depot in that vicinity though no officer was ready to confirm this information.

Chandramohan, a volunteer NGO, Arappor Iyakkam said, "Naturally when it rains, the lakes act as storing systems but now as they have closed the entire lake, the entire area was under water and the water level didn't recede for 10-15 days."

He claimed that the officials had to come in and break the sewage lines to connect the storm water lines and everything was a total chaos. "There is no water management system in Chennai and if it rains like last year, we are hopelessly in a bad shape," warns Chandramohan.

Though desilting and canal cleaning works are being done, Chandramohan said these are being done at a pace much slower than what is required and having less than three months for the monsoon rains, work should commence in a 'war footing' manner.

An unfortunate truth is that people who have built houses at such locations which were once lake beds are now stranded as they have put all the fortune in these properties and the government has no plans to compensate them for their loss. Many people lost their cars and home appliances to the floods. It is true that Jayalalithaa announced a common solatium of Rs 5,000 to every ration card holder but what each family lost was in lakhs. That being a reason AIADMK lost its strong seats in many parts of Chennai in the assembly elections.

Tamil Nadu's Chief MInister Jayalalitha has announced various steps and has also released funds for controlling flood damage but no one is ready to answer how they will control the floods without removing the encroachments on the water bodies.